Pending in Old Greenwich (Bad link before — fixed now)

11 Lighthouse Lane, $5.5 million, 83 days. Nice house, but I have a question: the property comprises 0.28 acre in the R-12 Zone, which has a FAR size limitation ratio of 0.315. Doing the math, that’s 43,560 X .28 = 12,197 X .315 = 3,842. The tax card and the listing both show house size as 4,986 sq. ft. — there’s no basement, so we aren’t talking buried, uncounted space here; what gives?

I despise the entire FAR scheme and opposed it when I was on the RTM back when it was first dreamed up, but I still wonder how this, and other houses, can be built 1/3 larger (and even more, in some instances) than FAR ostensibly allows.

I’m not the only one confused on this matter. Here’s what the broker for the original house said in 2005: Remarks: OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN A LOVELY OG NEIGHBORHOOD. PVT ASSOCIATION. SPACIOUS ROOMS, MANY RECENT UPDATES. APPROX F A R 3785.